Buenos Aires, Part 5

Los Pecanes, Continued

Ana, the owner of Los Pecanes was waiting for us at the dock when we arrived.

Our room with private bath.

The kitchen table.

All the meals are homemade. The food was by far the best we had in Buenos Aires.

It's as good as it looks.

The house was clean and well maintained.

The wood stove and fireplace remained lit throughout the day. Some activities outside are:

Lounging

Boat watching

Fruit sampling.

Nature hiking

Birdwatching (my favorite :)

This fellow was tiny. He offered a few poses before flying off.

The time went by quickly. Our final bill for three people was around $140. It included two days of first class meals and one night of lodging. The experience was well worth it.

Buenos Aires, Part 4

Retiro is a large transportation terminal located in the capital of Buenos Aires. It provides access to subways, trains, city and long distance buses.

A non-rush hour view of the train terminal.

A list of departing trains.

Today we'll board a train to Tigres, located about 28 kilometers north of Buenos Aires.

At Tigres we purchased round trip boat tickets to Los Pecanes, a bed and breakfast, in the Parana Delta. Here hundreds of small islands are only accessible by boat.

We patiently waited in the cold for this boat to be untied for our long journey. Just kidding, I had you, didn't I?

This is the boat we wanted. Care to join us? Here we go!

The boat dropped off several passengers who live in this rural, river community.

Some of the houses are very nice.




Others need some TLC.



A view from inside. Most people have been dropped off; we must be close.



About two hours into our trip, the boat captain told us we had arrived.






This place is beautiful and we are the only guests. I hope we have enough money for lodging and meals. It would be a long swim home.

To be continued ...

Buenos Aires, Part 3

A short taxi ride took us to Recoleta, an exclusive upper class neighborhood in Buenos Aires.

Our first stop was a café for breakfast in front of the square.

A typical breakfast may include pastries and coffee or tea.

We had purchased an mp3 walking tour (http://www.mptours.com/) prior to our trip. We hit three play buttons simultaneously and started our walk. The tour begins at the famous Recoleta cemetery. Several former Argentine Presidents and wealthy people are buried here.

The entrance to the cemetery.

The cemetery is divided by tree lined sidewalks with many marble mausoleums.

We left the cemetery and continued our journey.

past parks,



a museum,

and government buildings.

A view from a pedestrian crosswalk.

This mechanical flower, called Floralis Generica (Generica Flower) opens and closes the petals based on the time of day.

This lady earns a living walking dogs. Most dog sitters (paseaperros) don't clean the byproducts!

We continued past a residential neighborhood consisting mostly of high rise apartments. We finished our walking tour at another cafe and watched a protest outside our restaurant window.

Some Telecom employees were demanding a pay raise.

Notice the firecrackers used for affect.

Buenos Aires, Part 2

Our second day in Buenos Aires we heard the tragic loss of my uncle, Darrell Ensor. The plane he was flying somehow lost a wing.

The loss hit me hard. In the early 80’s I left Argentina as a teen to live with him and his family. They took me in when I barely spoke English, clueless about the American way of life. He did a lot for me, I will never forget. He will be missed, but not forgotten.

My uncle was an intelligent man. I don’t know of anything that he couldn’t do. Most importantly, he knew Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. I remember him sharing Jesus with others. As a Christian I have hope in seeing him again!

Here is a video tribute: http://www.hallfuneral.net/index.cfm

Taken in 99 at Tonya's wedding.

Buenos Aires

Our family just returned from a two week vacation to Buenos Aires. It had been ten years since I visited the country where I grew up. This time we rented a furnished apartment in the heart of the capital. Our apartment was on the 21st floor, offering a spectacular view of the city.

There are hundreds of furnished apartments offered online for tourists with pictures. Some advantages are cost, more space, and location. Some come with maid service.

Our rental company (http://www.bytargentina.com/) required cash upfront upon our arrival. We were a little nervous carrying cash. The rent was $37 per day, plus a refundable deposit of $265 (total of $787). We met the apartment owner and signed the contract with no problems. Now we were free to enjoy the city.

A view from our window. With the location of protest.

After our arrival the sounds of drums announced a protest a block from our apartment. I captured a few pictures with my long camera zoom.

The stairway to our apartment. We used the elevator :)

To be continued ..

The Bible, Truth or Fiction?

A prudent person will carefully investigate before drawing conclusions on such an important book. The Bible is loaded with facts which facilitates verification of the truth.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of claims that can be carefully analyzed. If you are uncertain of this book, I urge you to begin an independent study. Should the Bible be the “Word of God”, the ramifications are HUGE!

According to 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is breathed out by God”. God used human authors to write His word, yet without error. While many books list the authors names, some do not. For the authors were not interested in receiving any special recognition for their work, for it was not about them.

The Bible contains hundreds of prophesies. Some have been fulfilled; others will take place in the near future. The most significant prophecy was the coming Messiah (Jesus) predicted approximately 700 years before His appearance.

Between 1947 and 1956 the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 11 caves on the upper northwest shores of the Dead Sea. This discovery included fragments of every book of the Old Testament except Esther. There were 19 copies found of the Book of Isaiah which predicted the coming Messiah. There is extensive information available on the internet for your research.

The Bible includes the historical account of creation, the fall of man, the flood, the birth of Jesus Christ and the early New Testament church. I have never seen any reliable evidence to doubt its authenticity. In fact, the more I read it, the more convinced I am of its truth. If the Bible was not true, the more I and others read it, the less convinced we would be!

The Bible reveals how God reached out in love to a sinful world by giving His only Son, Jesus Christ. He became a man without sin and died a substitutionary death in place of sinful man to pay the penalty of man's sin which is death. (see Romans 6:23). For more information, please see the page, Religion, the great disappointment.